The present invention relates generally to a system and method for allowing an organization to evaluate new technologies.
In this so-called xe2x80x9cInformation Age,xe2x80x9d businesses must stay technologically current in order to continue to compete effectively. This is the case when the line of business involves the provision of technology-related products and services. For example, a company may manufacture products, such as hardware, software, or consumer electronics. Or a company may render technology-related services, such as Y2K remediation or Internet-related services, such as e-Bay(trademark) or Priceline(trademark). For all such companies, the continued development and improvement of the technology-based product or service is prerequisite to success. This is because their product is technology.
Even concerns not traditionally considered to be xe2x80x9ctechnology companiesxe2x80x9d heavily rely on technology in the Information Age. For example, so-called xe2x80x9cbrick and mortarxe2x80x9d retailers are increasingly venturing into the virtual marketplace of the Internet to peddle their wares. Most new companies set up web sites on the World Wide Web to generate good will and provide customers a mechanism to contact them. Airlines issue electronic tickets and permit reservations to be made xe2x80x9con line.xe2x80x9d Consumers can buy gas using special transponders that do not need to be xe2x80x9cswipedxe2x80x9d or handed to an attendant. Commuters can use their farecards in subways without having to physically pass them through a reader.
In the financial industry, businesses such as banks and credit card issuers permit users to access accounts over the Internet. Users can access accounts using automated systems accessed via the keypad on the telephone and interactive voice response (IVR) units. Users can apply for loans over the Internet without having to visit a bank or wait days or even weeks for loan processing. Automated call routing systems route customer inquiries to specialized personnel at call centers dispersed across the country. Deposits and transfers of funds can be effectuated remotely without having to visit the local branch or sending paper instruments.
The aforementioned are but a few examples intended to illustrate the important role that technology development has to the bottom line for the modern enterprise. The other side to technology development is technology protection. An enterprise gets the full benefits of its investment in technology development by preventing others from simply copying inventions.
As a result, businesses are increasingly relying on intellectual property law, particularly the patent law, to protect these intangible business assets. As is well known, the patent law sets forth very specific and demanding requirements that must be satisfied before protection is afforded. Moreover, the expenses for preparing and filing patent applications can be substantial. Therefore, businesses tend to carefully consider these legal and cost issues before seeking patent protection for new technologies. The process of evaluating these issues for invention submissions tends to be laborious and largely manual, a significant drawback.
Moreover, as enterprises place a greater emphasis on seeking patent protection, they may have difficulty in dealing with the sheer volume of submissions from erstwhile inventors. Paradoxically, perhaps, as management educates employees to recognize and submit new technologies in order to protect the company, management can become quickly overwhelmed. In short, there is no mechanism for efficiently assessing and prioritizing submissions. This is a significant drawback.
Other problems and drawbacks also exist with traditional approaches to evaluating invention submissions.
What is desired is a system and method for enabling an organization to evaluate invention submissions in an automated fashion that provides a quantified assessment.
Another object is to provide a system and method for enabling an organization to evaluate invention submissions based on a quantified assessment that considers both patentability and value to the organization.
Another object is to provide a system and method for enabling individuals in an organization to submit inventions for consideration using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based system with objective questions, such as multiple choice, true/false or yes/no type questions.
Another object is to provide a system and method for enabling individuals submitting an invention for consideration using a GUI-based questionnaire easily completed and submitted, so as to thereby reduce the time required for submission.
Yet another object is to provide a system and method for providing a GUI-based presentation of a quantified assessment of an invention submission that is easily evaluated by an evaluating party.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an objective-type questionnaire for invention submissions that is evaluated using a scoring tool that weights questions based on patentability and at least one other metric, such as value or impact.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a scoring tool that presents a prioritized presentation of invention submissions based on a quantified assessment to thereby make evaluation by the evaluating party more efficient.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described, an embodiment of the present invention comprises an apparatus and method for an automated invention submission and scoring tool for evaluating invention submissions. The system comprises a server system and a plurality of server systems. The server system presents submission questionnaires over a networked connection to submitters at user systems. The user completes the questionnaires, which are returned to the server system for processing. The server system processes the answers to provide a quantified evaluation of the submission based on patentability and at least one other parameter, such as impact or value. An evaluator at an evaluator system can view a presentation of the quantified assessment of the invention submission. The evaluator can also view the results of multiple invention submissions on a status overview page. Links between the status overview page, individual questionnaires, and individual assessment presentations are provided.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. It will become apparent from the drawings and detailed description that other objects, advantages and benefits of the invention also exist.